JDinFL

Your auto score has nothing to do with driving or claims, it is based off your credit report.  Someone decided that poor people with less that great credit have more accidents, therefore we will charge them more for insurance!

Part of it might be the mixture of credit that you have (or don't have), such as a good mixture of credit cards, installment loans, store credit, personal, car and mortgages?  Sometimes, just having one or two small credit cards is not enough.

I don't care what you pay cash for.  I don't care if you pay your telephone, electrity, garbage, sewage, water, rent or anything else that is not allowed to be reported on time or paid 29 days late. It matters nothing to me what you pay cash for. Credit is a different matter.  They don't care about what you can afford to pay for.  Why should anyone lend you money now when you have no history of repaying borrowed money?  No credit is worse that bad credit and if you have any good credit on your report, some of it can start going away after 10 years. It is a combination of account types and credit limits that keep a score high, as long as you pay them and use them intelligently, such as no more than 10-20% of your credit cards.

Scores change from not just day to day, but hour to hour!  It is what is on your report right now, not what was on it last week.  I have several collection accounts on my Experian report that don't even show up on other reports! The main point is to dispute what you can with the credit reporting agency.  If you win the dispute, they are supposed to share that information with the other agencies to have it removed from their reports also.  However, no one can make any agency report all of your good or bad credit to them.

A secured credit card is always an option.  Deposit $500-$2,000 in their savings account that you can't touch and get a credit card with the same limit.   Look for one at a credit union with no fee, but if you have to pay a fee, avoid the big banks like BOA, Capital One, HSBC, etc.  Many of them want HUGE annual fees!!!  The only reasonable big bank I have found is Wells Fargo, who will give you a secured card for an annual fee of $18 a year, but you must open an account (such as a savings account) with them first and if the account is a savings account, you must keep $300 minimum deposit or pay a $5 monthly fee (unless you have other accounts, direct deposit, or a variety of other things).

Credit cards are not evil, credit abusers are the problem.  If you use a credit card gently and pay it in full each month, you get better credit.  Blaming credit cards is like blaming the car for a drunk driver!

 Actually, closing 2 of my credit cards that I couldn't afford to pay helped me out greatly!!!  Both Applied Bank and Orchard bank had cards that a family member took and abused.  Ran me over my credit limit and I was bombarded with late fees and overlimit fees because I couldn't afford to pay the overlimit amount by the due date.  I ended up closing both accounts with a balance still due and did my best to pay all of the credit cards. Applied Bank changed my bad credit history to "paid, closed, never late" after I paid them off.  Orchard Bank, who I still owe 1/2 the credit limit to, recently changed my bad history to "closed, never late" and shows the few hundred dollars I still owe and my decreasing balance. All my open cards still show my derogatory credit history.  While not every creditor will do this for you, sometimes, it pays and helps your credit to close some of these accounts!

Part of your score is just not age of credit lines, but limits and types.  The better scores typically have low use (under 20%), but also have a variey of credit types, such as credit cards, installment loans, store cards, and auto and mortgage loans.  Closing some of these accounts may lower the variety of credit you have, the total credit limit, and raise your credit utilization because you now owe the same about, but your credit limit decreased.

Dispute the entry with your credit reports stating the item is paid in full.  The reporting agency then has 30 days to reply.  If they don't reply, it drops off until they report something else.

 This article missed some major points and that is, what price are you willing to pay just to keep a credit score a few points higher?  If your oldest credit card has only a $300 limit and it is one of those preditor cards that charge say $6.00 a month plus a $48 or more annual fee to keep, it is worth taking a hit to get rid of it!  That is $120.00 a year that you could use to pay other bills!!!   If you have to, open a secured credit card account first to increase your credit level and decrease your credit utilization, then close that predatory card. Finally, just paying off credit card debt increases your credit score tremendously.  I paid off one card, (actually two, but that one hasn't hit my credit report yet) and my score increased 10 points.  When I pay off all 4 cards, my total increase is projected to be 30 points!  And this is just on $2,000 of credit cards!   Finally, when things get out of hand, close the credit card accounts even if you still owe money on them.  I still have 4 cards, 2 credit, a store card and a automotive card, but closed the others that I couldn't afford to keep paying.  I am paying on them now, and two of them changed my credit reporting after I paid them 1/2 off to "closed, never late" and removed all the negative information about late payments!!!!  All the open cards still report my late payments.  Sometimes it pays to close some of the accounts to clean up your credit!  Not everyone will do this for you, but apparently some do!

The author suggests some things I disagree with.  One of them is to not close your oldest credit line.  If that oldest credit card (such as in my case), charges a high annual fee and a monthly fee on top of that, it is going to be the first card I close!  I might take a dip in my credit, but that extra money will pay off my other debts faster!  However, if you can, try to find another card such as a credit union or Wells Fargo secured credit card that charges a very low (or no) annual fee and open that account first, then close the high fee account. Secondly, rotate your credit card use, so that no one account gets reported in the same month.  Use one card for no more than 20% of your credit and pay it as soon as the bill comes in to avoid any interest charges.  As soon as that bill is posted, switch to another card for the second month.  When these hit your credit report, if you time it right, it will only show one of your cards at use at one time. As far as keeping or closing accounts based on interest rate, that is only important if you don't pay the balance due!  If you can get to the point where you pay a card in full each month, interest rate no longer matters, as long as you have a 25 day or more grace period (some cheap cards have no grace period and accrue interest from day one). Finally, NEVER take a cash advance on a credit card!  You are better off going to a cash advance/payday loan place than to pay the extra charges and interest on a credit card cash advance! 

No, I don't work for WF.  But I know the difference between a good credit card offer and one that bites bad.  The PSB offer bites bad.  I won't have the card, but if its good enough for you, go for it.  I'll save that interest and high annual fee for other things!

Everything I said is true and I'm sorry you can't handle it.  To prey on people by charging them interest from the date the purchase is made is nothing but their excess profit-taking.  Many consumers don't understand how 25 days of interest compound before they even get their bill, and if they don't pay it completely each month, it gets even worse.  Then, this bank tries to say they are the best in the marketplace?  More likes to cover up the truth!  Maybe they meant to say the best in making a profit off of consumers!

 To Public Savings Bank.  "increased costs of doing business"?  Visa already charges merchants a bundle just for accepting their card, but the majority of the fees go to the bank that issued the card.  When people charge using your card, your bank makes big fees off of each transaction.  Your annual fee is too high, you don't pay interest on the security deposit, and you have no grace period on purchases.  So on top of that $50, the interest you earn off of security deposits, and high merchant services fees that Visa pays you, you get that extra interest from purchases made 24 days before the statement even printed!!!  Your card is far from the best in the marketplace.  Try Wells Fargo Bank, where they issue a secured card for only $18 a year, have at least a 25 day grace period, and will waive all interest charges if you pay on or before your due date!  That makes your offer far from the "best in the marketplace".

 First, they hold your security deposit and earn interest off of it, but pay you none of it.  Then, you pay them $50 extra a year for the privledge of holding your interest free money.  Finally, you pay interest from the first day you charge anything.  Instead of a 25 or 30 day grace period, a charge made weeks before your statement cut has been accruing interest from day one!  Avoid these rip-off artists.  If you are going to pay anything for a secured credit card, get one from Wells Fargo Bank that offers a secured card for only $18 a year and a grace period of at least 25 days. 

Wells Fargo has a secured card for only $18 a year.  Open up a savings account with them online, then apply for the card.  Plus, if you open a savings and a checking account, they will waive all fees even without a minimum balance and they will increase your savings account interest rate to 1.5%!!! Use your Wells Fargo account to fund the secured card and you can do the whole thing online!

  Avoid Applied Bank at all costs!  They are the same ripoff artists that used to operate as "CrossCountry Bank", so if they screwed you once, now they will screw you again under a new name and new card.  Everytime people catch on to their terrorist tactics, they just open another card or change names.  On my Applied Bank card,  I have now made 9 payments of $50 each in the last 7 months, my total balance is now $152.86 on a $300 credit limit (lots of fees), and Applied Bank still continues to screw me.  They report me as 1-2 payments behind on my credit reports, demand two payments now, and want one of those payments to be $152.86,  my total balance.  If I make one payment that is my total balance, how do I make a second payment above that?  They already have my deposit.  They want a second payment above that total balance? They hound me constantly on the telephone and have ruined my credit even more simply because I had to skip one payment 8 months ago due to hardship.  They have no way of sending a message to them via your website login, list no correspondance address, and make sure that the only way you can contact them is via telephone, where you can't make a record of the contact without breaking the law.  And, just to add insult to injury, if you call them, its not toll-free....you have to pay to call a long distance number. I can't wait to pay off this card, close my accound, and take that Wells Fargo Secured card offer for only $18 a year!!!  Avoid these loan sharks!!!

  Avoid Applied Bank at all costs!  They are the same ripoff artists that used to operate as "CrossCountry Bank", so if they screwed you once, now they will screw you again under a new name and new card.  Everytime people catch on to their terrorist tactics, they just open another card or change names.  On my Applied Bank card,  I have now made 9 payments of $50 each in the last 7 months, my total balance is now $152.86 on a $300 credit limit (lots of fees), and Applied Bank still continues to screw me.  They report me as 1-2 payments behind on my credit reports, demand two payments now, and want one of those payments to be $152.86,  my total balance.  If I make one payment that is my total balance, how do I make a second payment above that?  They already have my deposit.  They want a second payment above that total balance? They hound me constantly on the telephone and have ruined my credit even more simply because I had to skip one payment 8 months ago due to hardship.  They have no way of sending a message to them via your website login, list no correspondance address, and make sure that the only way you can contact them is via telephone, where you can't make a record of the contact without breaking the law.  And, just to add insult to injury, if you call them, its not toll-free....you have to pay to call a long distance number. I can't wait to pay off this card, close my accound, and take that Wells Fargo Secured card offer for only $18 a year!!!  Avoid these loan sharks!!!

Avoid Applied Bank at all costs!  They are the same ripoff artists that used to operate as "CrossCountry Bank", so if they screwed you once, now they will screw you again under a new name and new card.  Everytime people catch on to their terrorist tactics, they just open another card or change names.  On my Applied Bank card,  I have now made 9 payments of $50 each in the last 7 months, my total balance is now $152.86 on a $300 credit limit (lots of fees), and Applied Bank still continues to screw me.  They report me as 1-2 payments behind on my credit reports, demand two payments now, and want one of those payments to be $152.86,  my total balance.  If I make one payment that is my total balance, how do I make a second payment above that?  They already have my deposit.  They want a second payment above that total balance? They hound me constantly on the telephone and have ruined my credit even more simply because I had to skip one payment 8 months ago due to hardship.  They have no way of sending a message to them via your website login, list no correspondance address, and make sure that the only way you can contact them is via telephone, where you can't make a record of the contact without breaking the law.  And, just to add insult to injury, if you call them, its not toll-free....you have to pay to call a long distance number. I can't wait to pay off this card, close my accound, and take that Wells Fargo Secured card offer for only $18 a year!!!  Avoid these loan sharks!!!

 They are crooks.  They now report me one to two months behind to all the credit bureaus even though I have paid every month for the last 8 months.  I have made 9 payments of $50 each in the last 8 months, I owe 151.40 on a 300 credit limit, and they want 2 payments now, one of them to be $109.30 (72% of my total balance).  On top of this they want $9.95 a month (199.40 a YEAR!!!) as an annual fee plus a $30 setup fee. Wells Fargo has a secured card for $18 a year.  Avoid the loan sharks at Applied Bank at all costs.!!!

U Update to my previous post.  I have now made 8 payments of $50 each in the last 7 months, my total balance is now $179 on a $300 credit limit (lots of fees), and Applied Bank still continues to screw me.  They report me as 1-2 payments behind on my credit reports, demand two payments now, and want one of those payments to be $159, or about 88% of my total balance. They hound me constantly on the telephone and have ruined my credit even more simply because I had to skip one payment 8 months ago due to hardship.  They have no way of sending a message to them via your website login, list no correspondance address, and make sure that the only way you can contact them is via telephone, where you can't make a record of the contact without breaking the law.  And, just to add insult to injury, if you call them, its not toll-free....you have to pay to call a long distance number. I can't wait to pay off this card, close my accound, and take that Wells Fargo Secured card offer for only $18 a year!!!  Avoid these loan sharks at all costs!!!

 Avoid Applied Bank at all costs.  I have an account with a 300 credit limit (before they changed this card) and missed a payment due to financial issues.  My account is below the credit limit, I have made 7 payments of $50.00 in the last 6 months, and they still report me as being 2 payments behind and want $190 on a $243 balance as one minimum payment!  That's 78% of my balance as one payment!!! Stay as far away from these ripoff artists as you can!!!

https://www.wellsfargo.com/credit_cards/secured/

Check out their new Secured credit card.  You have to be a Wells Fargo or Wachovia Bank customer to qualify, but it is super easy to apply for a savings account with them.  After that, you can get a secured Visa for only $18.00 a year, much less than those rip-off artists Applied bank and Public Savings! 

I've now made 7 payments in the last 6 months of $50 each.  They still report me two payments behind (sometimes 3), and want a minimum payment of $190 on a $243 balance, or 78% of my total balance.  This should be illegal!!!!  Avoid these ripoff artists at all costs!!!  This is why they no longer operate as "CrossCountry Bank", because they were run out of town on a rail for this kind of activity!!!